I must admit to being somewhat disappointed with my first turkey breast on my pellet grill. I don’t know if I did something wrong or just bought a "bad" turkey breast. The meat tasted ok but was very " chewy" for breast meat. Seemed juicy enough but I had to cook it a day early. I was advised to remove each half of the breast intact and put into ziplock bags. On Thanksgiving day I foiled each breast then warmed in 325 oven before slicing. This was a frozen breast that I had thawed for 4 days. Any thoughts on what I did wrong?
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Did you cook the breast to a specific temperature. 160 or so? Or did you use time. Almost sounds like you might have over cooked. -
Was it injected at the processing plant? If not, did you inject? How large was this turkey breast? What was the internal temp when you took it off the smoker? I'm guessing it ended up a little overcooked between cooking and reheating.Comment
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Ok let’s see. It was a pre- injected 7.5 lb breast. I smoked it until the internal temp was 165 in the center of the breast then took it out of the smoker and foiled it for about 30 mins before cutting the breast off the bone. I did use a small amount of creole butter injection but not very much.Comment
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If the breast weighed that much then you had a large old bird for starters, which will be stringy. I would also bet you may have sliced the meat down the grain rather than across the grain. That will account for chewiness also. Lastly, reheating one never does it any good. Next time cook it much earlier in the day, wrap it quickly in foil or plastic, then put it in a small cooler stuffed with balls of news paper. Then tape the lid down to keep folks out! It will stay very hot for quite a few hours and tenderize itself as much as possible in the mean time. You have to turn the stringy collagen into gelatin and that takes a while.Comment
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Actually I did slice across the grain on this one. I did wonder about the size of this one. It was a bone-in breast. I think next time I will try a smaller one and try to eat it the same day. Also try to find a fresh one instead of frozen if possible.
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FWIW, I smoked two large whole fresh bone-in turkey breasts for Thanksgiving. No injection. Spatchcocked at the upper back bones, as the rest of the back had been removed. They took the same amount of time to smoke as a whole turkey on my PBC running at an average 350°F. They were juicy, tender and delicious with the most amazing crispy skin.
They were 7 and 9 lbs respectively. The leftovers were also delicious; we reheat the turkey slices (by individual portions) in the microwave. Then we pour really hot gravy over the meat. I much prefer my leftover turkey cold. Husband likes it hot.
Kathryn
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i had super tough turkey before when i cooked it without skin on. it was like turkey jerky. i cooked it hot and i think it needed the skin to absorb the heat. did you leave the skin on?
i also know poultry can get mighty tough when you reheat itComment
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Definitely think I need to try fresh turkey next time. Don’t know how available the fresh birds are but I need to check around. Still not sure what else I did wrong but maybe the un-frozen method will be an improvement.Comment
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Fresh is best if you can get it. If you really have to reheat, I would probably pull it from the cooker at 160 or a bit less so the reheat does not overcook.Comment
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Did you put anything on the skin prior to smoking? Maybe I did not cook my hot enough to crisp the skin.Originally posted by fzxdoc View PostComment
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dennisl , I put only the rub on the skin and under the skin on the muscle. The rub had salt in it, so it also doubled for the dry brine for the whole turkey breasts, which I let sit uncovered in the fridge overnight. Turkey went straight from the fridge to the smoker with nothing else done to it.
HTH,
Kathryn
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Thanks very much for the information. I will keep that in mind next time I smoke a turkey or whole chickens.Comment
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